1. The Emergence of Modernism
• As the 20th century progressed, artists who always looked for new art styles emerged.
• After Post-Impressionists, a group of artists led by Henry Matisse used intense colors unknown to
critics and the public.
 they used arbitrary color, where color no longer replicated reality
 called fauves (“wild beasts”)
• Natural form was attacked.
 Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque developed a whole new style; they broke down and
analyzed form in new ways – Cubism.
 Portrayed that people remember scenes as overlays of visual impressions seen from
different angles and moments in time.
 Influenced by African art.
• Germany – emphasized emotional responses – Expressionism
 Die Brücke – took brilliant arbitrary colors and combined them with intense feelings
 Der Blaue Reiter – abstract pictures with no subject
• WWI
 Shifts art center from Paris to New York
 The Armory Show in America– 1st major show of modern art
 Harlem: African –American creativity center – Harlem Renaissance
 Dada Movement: protested against everything in society and ridiculed norms
• The Bauhaus (Germany)
 Established standards for architecture and design w/ profound effects.
 Reconciled industrial mass-manufacture with aesthetic form.

2. Les Demoiselles d’Avignon by Pablo Picasso

3. Abstraction
• WWII: organized art came to a standstill
• Post-war, NYC became the center for
international art
• Abstract Expressionists: said art, like music, could
be free from the limitations of pictorial subject
matter
 Action paintings: dramatic brushstrokes or dripping
technique from Jackson Pollock
 Color field paintings – broad areas of color and
simple, geometric forms
 Led many artists to return to naturalism and
influenced pop art.

4. Pop Art, Minimalism, and Photorealism
• Pop Art:
 1960s
 Incorporated images of mass culture – violated the traditional unspoken rules
for art subject matter
 Andy Warhol – icon of pop art; used a factory-like silkscreen approach to mock
the art world
 Roy Lichtenstein
• Minimalism: sought to reduce art to its barest essentials
 Simplification of form
 Monochromatic palettes
 Aided with invention of acrylic paint – precise outlines
 Frank Stella, David Smith, Dan Flavin
• Photorealism: aimed to create a kind of super-realis
 A hyper-real quality comes from the depiction of the subject matter in sharp
focus, like in a photograph
 Clear contrast to sfumato (made images hazy)
 Chuck Close, Duane Hanson

5. Andy Warhol

6. Earthworks, Installations, and Performance
• Earthworks:
 Art was no longer limited to the indoors – challenged
orthodox ideas on art and its functions
 Christo – introduced idea that landscape/architecture is
something that can be packaged
• Performance Art:
 Combination of theater and art in which artists become
the work.
 Ex. Guerilla Girls in NY
• Postmodernist Art: reaction to modernist styles
 Reintroduces traditional elements or exaggerates
modernist techniques
 Return to earlier styles

7. Chinese Art
• Most famous Ancient Chinese art – two thousand mile long
Great Wall
• Dynasties of China also impacted history of art – many of
these rulers left elaborate tombs that have objects now
considered treasures of art
• Terra Cotta Warriors of Emperor Qin are most famous – full
army of soldiers and their equipment, even their horses
• Buddhism: During the Tang dynasty (China’s Golden Age),
artists made great ceramic sculptures with its influence.
• Great value on ink drawing - these scrolls show
contemplative aspect in Asian art
• With the communism revolution, art became infused with
political ideals but has gradually become less political since
the late 1970s

8. The Great Wall of China

9. Japanese Art
• Isolation led to their art forms to be more traditional
• The dynastic cycle leaves its mark on Japanese artistic
styles
• During the rise of the impressionist movement in Europe,
Japan sent a group of artists to study in France – these
artists brought back what they learned to Japan and
brought Western influences to Japanese art.
• Soon, however, the Japanese rejected these ideas and
went back to traditional styles (isometric perspective, flat
areas of color)
• Best known for printmaking – had profound impacts on
Western art, esp. in France

10. The Great Wave off Kanagawa

11. African Art
• Art of sub-Saharan Africa usually separated with that of Northern Africa because of
different histories and cultures
• Art emerged in about 23000 BCE – predates any known European paintings
• Nok Civilization: West Africa
– produced fantastic lifelike terra cotta sculptures, several of which were
probably portraits of religious and political leaders
– may have influenced the Yoruba and other later cultural groups
• Benin Kingdom; Nigeria
– art produced in association with rich life in royal court
– bronze portrait heads were intended for ancestral altars; other objects
reinforced the tremendous power of the Benin king (oba)
– treasures destroyed by the British raid on the royal palace in 1897
• Many art pieces are gone because
– They were not preserved well
– European traders and settlers on the continent destroyed many pieces
– the context of many pieces in existence is lost with museums

13. Oceanic Art
• Oceania: collective name for the thousands
of islands including Polynesia, Melanesia,
and Micronesia
• many items lost due to the fragile materials
used in a sometimes hostile climate
• Tattooing and body arts, which were
important in these societies, have been lost
for obvious reasons.
• Carved masks were very important
– used in ceremonies that summoned the spirits
of ancestors to honor the dead

14. Islamic Art
• Copies of the Qur’an (Muslim holy book)
beautifully produced are some of the
most valued art pieces from the time
• Art – nonfigurative; uses mostly abstract
and calligraphy

15. Dome of the Rock

16. Art in the Americas
• Art considered “products of simple craftsmanship”,
not considered works of art up until now
• Civilizations
– Olmecs
– Toltecs
– Mayan
– Incans
– Aztecs
• Great pyramids are prominent – Pyramid of the Sun
in Mexico is one
• Due to poor preservation, only art pieces from the
last 2000 years are present